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Sunday, December 28, 2008
Ginormously Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies
As you can imagine, it feels good to be back home and getting back to a more normal eating schedule. I've increased the veggies in my diet, tried to return to running and limited myself to three meals a day (down from 5-6!) Even with my new healthy outlook, I certainly still make room for ginormous chocolate chip cookies.
After indulging in days of Momma's Asian delights, I had a hankering for good ol' chocolate chip cookies. I spent a few minutes drooling over Tastespotting's cookie gallery and settled on the cookies made by Easy Peasy. Her cookies looked huge, soft and well, perfect. I used mini chocolate chips (my new obsession) and about 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips to shake things up. Michelle measured out about 1/2 cup dough for each cookie. Wanting to have cookies to take to work (and prevent us from eating them all) I used a 1/4 cup of dough for each. My cookies were still huge!
I. Love. These. Cookies. These were so fabulous and sinful. If you're not feeling overindulged yet, I suggest you get yourself into the kitchen and make these. Dieting should be addressed after the New Year! :)
Enjoy the rest of the holidays!! It'll be sad when we get back to full work weeks, huh? :)
Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Easy Peasy
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (we all know cinnamon makes everything better!)
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted cooled until warm
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chip
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside.
3. With electric mixer, beat butter & sugars until thoroughly combined.
4. Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until just combined.
5. Add dry ingredients; beat at low speed until combined. Stir in chips.
6. Measure 1/4 cup of dough and roll into ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into 2 equal halves. Place dough halves together, ragged side up. Place formed dough onto cookie sheet with about 2 inches in between (the cookies will spread).
7. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy.
8. Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.
39 comments:
- Unknown said...
happy holidays girl!
i've been searching for the perfect chewy cookies recipe...i'll give this a try but i need to buy some cinnamon URGENTLY.
life is nothing without cinnamon hehe - December 28, 2008 at 11:49 PM
- kat said...
We'll still be holiday eating for another week...oh will I need to join a gym
- December 29, 2008 at 5:40 AM
- LizNoVeggieGirl said...
THOSE COOKIES!!! Sinfully divine.
Happy Holidays, Sharon!! - December 29, 2008 at 5:45 AM
- Unknown said...
i'm totally feeling overindulged... but these might need to be made!! i always make huge cookies ;-)
- December 29, 2008 at 6:39 AM
- Sweet Treats by Dani said...
even amongst all the holiday feedings, i am sure i could find room for one of these :)
- December 29, 2008 at 7:21 AM
- Pam said...
Oh my - these look amazing. I can imagine how tasty they would be dipped in milk. YUM!
- December 29, 2008 at 9:11 AM
- The Blonde Duck said...
Ginourmous cookies are certianly a part of a healthy diet. I totally agree.
- December 29, 2008 at 9:22 AM
- The Blonde Duck said...
Ginourmous cookies are certianly a part of a healthy diet. I totally agree.
- December 29, 2008 at 9:22 AM
- RecipeGirl said...
Everyone needs ginormous cookies in their diet. Can't go without a treat now and then!
- December 29, 2008 at 9:28 AM
- Snooky doodle said...
wow these look so delicious! and they re giant too :)
- December 29, 2008 at 10:18 AM
- That Girl said...
Those are gorgeous and huge!
- December 29, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Do you guys have Potbellys where you live? If you do, then you know their cookies are the best in the world! Your cookies look as chewy and as tasty as their-BIG!!
Hope you had a great Christmas! - December 29, 2008 at 12:51 PM
- Maria said...
The cookies look perfect! I think I will have to indulge in one more treat! Happy New Year to you!
- December 29, 2008 at 1:26 PM
- Clumbsy Cookie said...
Another ccc is allways welcome, specially if they're ginormously! Have a wonderful new year!
- December 29, 2008 at 3:38 PM
- Jenny said...
Your pictures and seriously gorgeous! I'd eat a dozen of these beauties in no time!! - December 29, 2008 at 4:03 PM
- Mo said...
Wow. Food.Porn.
I love,love, love chocolate chip cookies, and to me, the bigger, the better!
I am DEFINATELY making these beauties this week. - December 29, 2008 at 4:13 PM
- Katrina said...
Wow, yum! I'm all about the choc chip cookie! These look great. Huge temptation for me to get in the kitchen and make these. Awesome sounding recipe!
Happy New Year! - December 29, 2008 at 6:01 PM
- test it comm said...
Those cookies do look big, and good! Happy holidays!
- December 29, 2008 at 6:30 PM
- Bunny said...
I should write an ode to chocolate chip cookies, that's how much I love them. !/2 a cup of dough...could you imagine the size of that cookie!!!
- December 29, 2008 at 7:26 PM
- Sara said...
These look amazing, I totally need to make them soon.
- December 29, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Giant and chocolate chip are two words that should always be in the same sentence.
- December 29, 2008 at 8:35 PM
- Elle said...
Want. these. Now. Yes, for breakfast. They look spectacular! Happy holidays!
- December 30, 2008 at 5:54 AM
- Jersey Girl Cooks said...
Happy Holidays! Great cookies. I think I stretched out my stomach and now it needs constant feeding too. I guess I can shrink it back on Jan 2nd. Happy New year!
- December 30, 2008 at 9:47 AM
- grace said...
that's a hearty cookie, is what that is. one would probably satisfy me, but i'd end up putting away four or five at a time, no doubt. :)
- December 30, 2008 at 11:34 AM
- gaga said...
Mmmm, I love a great cookie. And you can't go wrong with ginormous!
- December 30, 2008 at 4:31 PM
Your photos are mouthwatering! And when it comes to cookie size, the bigger the better :)
- December 30, 2008 at 7:44 PM
- MaryBeth said...
WOW...those are some HUGE cookies. I'll take 2 or 3 maybe 5 of them.
- December 30, 2008 at 7:45 PM
Mmm, these look so great...I love lots of chocolate chips!
- December 31, 2008 at 5:45 AM
- vanillasugarblog said...
yes back to exercising again, and stopping the crazy eating.
but always room for cc cookies! LOL
Happy New Year to you! - December 31, 2008 at 12:48 PM
- Emily said...
Oh. My. Goodness.
- January 1, 2009 at 1:07 PM
- Ana Powell said...
Lovely chewy cookies.
Happy 2009 x - January 2, 2009 at 10:45 AM
- La Bella Cooks said...
There is nothing better than a perfect chocolate chip cookie. It is definitely my favorite dessert/treat of choice.
- January 2, 2009 at 11:27 AM
I have never heard of rolling the dough into a ball and then pulling it apart before placing it on the pan. It must make the tops ragged and crunchy! Yummm!
- January 2, 2009 at 1:09 PM
- FROGGITY! said...
- January 2, 2009 at 9:57 PM
- Sophie said...
Yes, these cookies do look huge and perfect!
By the way, those strawberry cupcakes are calling me by name! :) What a cute thing to celebrate! :D - January 7, 2009 at 3:41 PM
- Laura said...
Sheesh! Every time I think I have found The chocolate chip cookie recipe, I see another I want to try!
- January 11, 2009 at 8:44 PM
- Tereza said...
ok this totally has me drooling!
- January 12, 2009 at 12:27 AM
- Katie said...
Hmm I've never thought of putting cinnamon in cookies! Great idea :) I'm definitely going to have try that once this month is over (no sweets February!)
- February 9, 2009 at 11:12 AM
- K. Myers said...
so you're supposed to melt the butter, then allow it to cool before mixing w/ the sugar?
- August 18, 2009 at 11:01 AM


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(visited by Harald Pietschmann)
23-Dec-2007 --
My first confluence visit! Cool.
It was an easy 3 hour drive on pavement from La Paz north. Had it all checked out on Google Earth. Long 300 km travel on black top, 10 km farm road, about 4 km of an abandoned trail plus a possible Indian trail right up to the location.
The confluence is located south-west of the Mission town of San Miguel de Comondu in the foothills of the Sierra Giganta. Finding and driving the abandoned trail (hadn't been used in many years, but wasn't overgrown too badly) was an exciting off-road adventure. The last kilometer on foot I followed a well used animal trail. Cacti and thorny bushes just waiting to leave their marks on my body. I dodged most of them. A few left painful marks.
The first 2/3 of the hike was in a small canyon, when turning uphill for the finale, the trail had all the telltale signs of an Indian trail. And the confluence was just about a meter off the trail to the left. Even though the exact location to zero out my GPS was right at the center of an Ocotillo bush, the general area was a bit more open than the rest of the terrain.
I brought two cameras and two GPS - just in case something should go wrong. Good decision. I took two sets of pictures. Shortly before reaching the confluence one of the cameras showed an error message. Got it fixed, but some images turned out later to be unreadable. The second camera kept me from doing the trip twice. No errors to report on the two GPS (the older unit showed slightly different numbers though).

subset: commoncrawl


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BROWNWOOD – July 27, 2012 – A group of theatre students from Howard Payne University are on campus this week, rehearsing Grimaldi: King of the Clowns, which they will perform in August at the International Collegiate Theatre Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The group will present the play for local audiences at the HPU Theatre on Sunday, July 29, at 2:30 p.m., and Monday, July 30, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 each and will be available at the door. Donations will also be accepted, and proceeds will go toward covering expenses for the trip.
For more information, call the School of Music and Fine Arts at (325) 649-8500.
Photo cutline: Rivers Shotwell, foreground, and (from left) Dorie Walton, Jarrod White and Jared Russell, rehearse a scene from Grimaldi: King of the Clowns.


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The European Commission (EC) announced its Joint Research Centre (JRC) has established a repository of nanomaterials representing 25 different types of reference nanomaterials, including titanium dioxide, to support safety assessments as well as ensure consumer protection and confidence in various applications and products.
According to the EC, nanotechnology is one of today's most promising technological developments, so by enabling a harmonized risk assessment, this repository can contribute to the success of nanotechnology and its application in products. The group notes that standardized methodologies and materials are necessary to obtain comparable test results worldwide and to provide reliable data for policy and regulatory decision-making.
Launching the repository, Elke Anklam, director of the JRC Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP), said in a press statement, "This unique repository fosters standardization in safety assessment and facilitates innovation by creating a common and consistent measurement framework for all stakeholders. This will both support international harmonization bodies for standardizing risk assessment as well as EU policy makers for regulatory issues."
Since nanomaterials offer a range of benefits and enable the development of innovative applications and products, in order to capitalize on them, in the best sense, the EC reports it is essential to set a well-considered regulatory framework covering issues related to safe practices in the manufacturing process, consumer health and protection of the environment. Such a framework depends on harmonized and science-based risk assessment.
Further, in order to ensure the comparability of the underlying data obtained in the many international test laboratories, the availability of representative reference nanomaterials is essential. According to the EC, this repository of nanomaterials was thus created by the JRC in response to the need for safety assessment testing in major international standardization bodies.
Specifically, the repository includes most nanomaterials currently assumed to be used in significant volumes in consumer products. The nanomaterials in the repository were produced in collaboration with the German Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) under Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) conditions. The 25 types of materials include: carbon nanotubes, silver nanoparticles, titanium dioxide, cerium oxide, zinc oxide, bentonite, gold and silicon dioxide. For more information, visit the JRC website.


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A Pilot Light Ignition
Use the information on the following to link to request a pilot light ignition or learn how to light it yourself.
A Smoke Alarm Installation
If you don't have a smoke alarm you may qualify for a free smoke alarm. The following link will provide information on how to request one.
A Speaker from the Police Department
Would you like for a Police officer to visit your school or attend your organization's meeting? Use this information on how to arrange a visit. There are a variety of programs available.
A Speaker from the Fire Department
Does your organization or class want to learn more about fire safety? Contact our Fire Department using the following information to arrange a program.
An Inspection
Follow this link to the Inspection page where you can find information on scheduling an inspection.
An Appliance Pickup
Do you have an old appliance? The following page will explain how you can call someone to pick it up.
Financial Assistance
Do you or a friend need financial assistance? Use the information on the following pages to find help.
Termination of Utility Services
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Public Records (FOIA)
The City of Danville is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Use this link to find out more information on your rights to access public information.


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The cases are 209 years apart, but just below the surface, the similarities between Marbury v. Madison, the landmark Supreme Court case establishing judicial review, and today's decision upholding the health-care law's individual mandate are striking.
In his 2008 book The Activist, Lawrence Goldstone detailed the circumstances of Marbury, which addressed the power of the court to strike down federal laws.
Goldstone wrote of Chief Justice John Marshall, a federalist who wanted to avoid granting more authority to the new president, Thomas Jefferson, "He knew all too well that if he sided with his fellow federalist [William Marbury, who had filed a lawsuit against Jefferson's administration with the Supreme Court], Jefferson would simply refuse, and Marshall had no means to compel him to comply. The court's authority would therefore be weakened, thus defeating the federalist scheme to maintain its power through the judiciary."
But deciding the other way would have been using the federalist-heavy courts to "strengthen Jefferson's power," which would have been "equally unpalatable."
After this morning's ruling, law professor David Bernstein wondered about the Supreme Court's authority (or at least the public perception of it): "[W]as [Roberts] responding to the heat from President Obama and others, preemptively threatening to delegitimize the court if it invalidated the ACA?"
There is no reason to think that President Obama would not have complied with today's ruling if it had gone the other way, but that doesn't mean he would take it lying down. As the political reporter Marc Ambinder tweeted earlier this week, "The [White House] has exec[utive] orders [ready to go] if ACA is struck down. Their content and timing I don't know. But they've got contingency plans a-plenty."
The bottom line is that both Marshall and Roberts were writing their opinions in the face of intense political pressure and competing views of the proper scope of government power. In 1803, as Goldstone wrote, "Marshall found a way through the thicket." Roberts did the same today.
How did they do it? In both cases, they started out with a nod to the opposition.
"With inspired misdirection, he began his opinion with a complete validation of Marbury's claim," Goldstone wrote of Marshall.
Likewise, Roberts began his opinion today by holding that the individual mandate could not be upheld under the Commerce Clause, which until relatively recently has permitted the federal government to regulate in countless areas with little court intervention. Concluding that the mandate "cannot be sustained under a clause authorizing Congress to 'regulate commerce,'" the chief justice even went so far as to raise the hypothetical "broccoli" mandate—a pet issue of the mandate's opponents that was raised by Justice Antonin Scalia at the oral arguments for the case in March. (This misdirection is also likely what led CNN and Fox News to mistakenly report that the mandate had been struck down.)
Next, each man issued his ruling in favor of the president, but simultaneously protected another interest.
In Marbury, Marshall struck down the law at issue, which resulted in a rejection of Marbury's claim. This prevented Jefferson from losing the suit, but also provided Marshall with a win for the federalists' aim to strengthen the judiciary.
Today, Roberts upheld the individual mandate under the federal constitutional authority to tax, which resulted in a rejection of the mandate opponents' claims. This gave Obama a clear win on health care, but laid a potential trap for future congressional efforts to regulate commerce.
The significance of this approach wasn't lost on close observers of the court.
Roberts "reached out broadly to impose unprecedented new restrictions on the powers of Congress in its ability to address important national questions of social welfare," wrote University of Pennsylvania law professor Tobias Barrington Wolff.
Slate's Tom Scocca concurred. "By ruling that the individual mandate was permissible as a tax, [Roberts] joined the Democratic appointees to uphold the law—while joining the Republican wing to gut the Commerce Clause (and push back against the Necessary-and-Proper clause as well)."
But some say whatever damage was inflicted on the Commerce Clause today won't be felt too deeply.
"It will have almost no effect on legislation moving forward, because the opinion makes clear that what you can't do through the Commerce Clause, you can do through the General Welfare Clause," Jack Balkin, a professor at Yale Law School, told The Daily Beast. (Extra points to Balkin, who predicted today's outcome.)
William Marshall, a former deputy White House counsel, likewise told The Daily Beast, "This is a very rare instance in which Congress believed there was a need to regulate inactivity in order to achieve its goals and I am not sure that there are likely to be many others."
"The lasting impact of these portions of the court's ruling will take years to assess," Wolff said, noting that the portion of Roberts's opinion discussing the Commerce Clause could be diminished because it was not, technically, necessary to the ruling—a view countered by Roberts himself in another part of his opinion.
"Nonetheless, their disruptive potential is extraordinary."
It took 50 years after Marshall penned his opinion in Marbury for the Supreme Court to strike down another act of Congress. But more than 200 years later, the disruptive potential of judicial review remained on full display.


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I'm a PhD student in an academic research laboratory. One part of my project involves collecting samples and generating data. Another part involves establishing a research database to store the results. As the project has grown, a Masters student and two post-doctoral fellows are also working on the samples and generating data. All data relating to the samples I collected is to be added to the database, regardless of who generated the data. Each entry in the database has an "owner" field to keep track of this. Our supervisor would like the database to be used more extensively by people working on other projects as well.
I am meeting some resistance from members of our group (both those workings on "my" project and on their own/other's projects) regarding submitting data/results to "my" database. At a recent meeting, I explained once again the concepts of a (central) database, that queries can easily extract data, that the "ownership" field keeps track of whose data point it is, and reminded everyone of the benefits of a central database which stores all data generated. I highlighted the kinds of analyses which can be undertaken comparatively on different data sets, how meta-analyses can be done, and so on. I then offered to do some research around the issue of database management and ownership. Some people in the group do not want to submit data to the database until their papers are published, despite the fact that it is impossible for anyone else in the group to simply throw together a "competing" paper from the data alone and publish it "first". This is also impractical because it means that data which is never published is never added to the database. It also means that no-one else has access to it UNTIL the paper is published, thereby slowing down other research. Internal sharing of this kind of data should be routine.
I would appreciate any suggestions of resources or comments around these issues. Should everyone sign a "waiver" regarding their data going INTO the database and another one regarding the use of data FROM the database? We're not a particularly mistrustful group, but everyone else in the group are "wet lab" researchers, so the concepts of databases and sharing data is possibly a little foreign to them.


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flag of Suriname
Our editors will review what you've submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
The only Dutch colony on the mainland of the New World to survive into the 20th century, Suriname (formerly known as Dutch Guiana) has a unique ethnic and cultural mix that sets it off from its Latin American neighbours. The Suriname national flag is consequently different from those of surrounding countries, although it generally resembles other new flags of the Caribbean region. As an autonomous territory under Dutch rule, Suriname in 1959 hoisted a white flag that bore a black ellipse. That unusual flag also had five stars whose colours (white, black, brown, yellow, and red) suggested the ethnic groups of the territory (Europeans, Africans, East Indians, Chinese, and Amerindians).
The 1959 design was abandoned—in part because many felt that it emphasized ethnicity over national unity—when Suriname became independent on November 25, 1975. The new national flag, adopted just four days previously, had been developed in a national competition. It features green stripes for the country's jungles and agricultural lands, white for justice and freedom, and red for the progressive spirit of a young nation. At the centre of the flag is a yellow star symbolic of the unity of the country, its golden future, and the spirit of sacrifice necessary on the part of citizens to achieve that goal.


text:
I've implemented CVT:
You specify the new mode in config.txt with the following config string:
Code: Select all
hdmi_cvt=<width> <height> <framerate> <aspect> <margins> <interlace> <rb>
width width in pixels
height height in pixels
framerate framerate in Hz
aspect aspect ratio 1=4:3, 2=14:9, 3=16:9, 4=5:4, 5=16:10, 6=15:9
margins 0=margins disabled, 1=margins enabled
interlace 0=progressive, 1=interlaced
rb 0=normal, 1=reduced blanking
It should appear if you do
Code: Select all
tvservice -m DMT
Code: Select all
hdmi_cvt=1680 1050 60 5 0 0 1
Code: Select all
tvservice -m DMT
mode 87: 1680x1050 @ 60Hz 16:10, clock:119MHz progressive
Code: Select all
tvservice -e "DMT 87"
fbset -depth 8 && fbset -depth 16
You can also do the usual:
Code: Select all
Please note. There is no guarantee your display will support the resolution/framerate produced by this.
But if you are currently running a monitor at a non native resolution, then this may be worth a try.


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Thanks to the due diligence of the many people who've been emailing us, we're proud to add two states to our State Sovereignty Resolutions page, Iowa and Kansas!
SCR1 was introduced in Iowa on 01/27/09. It reads:
A concurrent resolution claiming state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over certain mandates imposed on states by the federal government.
SCR1609 was introduced in Kansas on 02/11/09. It reads:
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION claiming sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over certain powers; serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates; providing that certain federal legislation be prohibited or repealed; and directing distribution.
Click here for the full text (.pdf)
We'll continue to make efforts to report on new legislation as it's introduced, but it's essential that all of you continue contacting us with any information you're coming across locally. Thanks for all the feedback!
(h/t Kim Ginger and Campaign for Liberty)


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For years, Kelly Lacek felt she and her husband made the right choice by not having her two youngest kids vaccinated. After all, the children were thriving without immunizations.
But in 2006, Matthew (pictured), their youngest, complained of a sore throat and a pain in his neck. The 3 year old suddenly developed a high fever. Hunched over, he struggled to breathe.
When his parents brought Matthew to the hospital, an older pediatrician asked, "Was your son vaccinated?"
No, he wasn't. The Laceks were among those parents who had decided to postpone or skip vaccines altogether, because of skepticism over the number of shots required, the ingredients or concerns over a now-largely discredited link between vaccines and autism.
While vaccine rates are strong overall, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among people who have private health insurance, there's evidence of a troubling decline.
The rate of vaccination for kids covered under private insurance fell 4 percentage points in 2009, according to a nonprofit association that certifies health care organizations. It was the first time a drop had been seen.
"This disturbing development indicates parents in commercial plans are rejecting valuable, evidence-based treatment," according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance report. The authors said that vaccine refusal could be a major factor.
There are theories that the recent whooping cough epidemic, which has killed ten in California, is a result of lagging vaccinations. In California, 320 new whooping cough cases have been reported this week. Health authorities urge booster shots for everyone 10 years or older who has not yet received it, especially women of childbearing age and health care workers who are in contact with pregnant women or infants.
A small subset of the population, typically well-educated, white and in the upper-middle class, have grown skeptical of immunizations, said Jason Glanz, a senior scientist and epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente's Institute for Health Research.
"They're hesitant to vaccinate because of the belief that they don't work and that their kids are not at risk for the diseases," he said.
Do children in the U.S. have to get more shots?
"Vaccines have been so effective that people now don't even know what the disease looks like or what problems the diseases can cause," said Dr. Robert Frenck, professor of pediatrics in the infectious diseases division at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio.
"[People] don't perceive risk from the disease. They don't perceive the benefits of the vaccine."
Americans no longer see the shrunken legs and paralyzed children -- effects of polio, a disease from a seemingly bygone era. This makes parents wonder why their kids need such shots for polio or measles, Frenck said.
"That's the mistake," he said, warning that pathogens can easily circulate with international travel. "The diseases are here. The disease is still out here."
Lacek had never heard of Haemophilus influenzae type b, which sent her young son to the hospital four years ago.
The bacterial infection known as Hib kills one in 20 and can cause brain damage and deafness. Hib is rare because it is a vaccine-preventable disease. Minnesota had an Hib outbreak in 2009.
Years before, Lacek, of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, worried about the purported association between vaccines and autism.
So Matthew had not received the Hib vaccine.
As Matthew's windpipe was shutting down that day in the hospital, his parents were told: "Your son has minutes to live."
The stunned mother cradled her son in her lap as doctors scrambled to find an open operating room.
"He didn't cry," she said. "He was laboring to breathe, He didn't move. He was perfect. He was just at peace."
Lacek had enrolled Matthew in nursery school using a personal belief exemption. This exemption allows children to bypass childhood vaccinations required to attend schools.
"If you look at the 21 states that allow personal belief exemptions for immunizations, those exemption rates are going up," Glanz said.
Bert Martinez, of Houston, Texas, got personal belief exemptions for his five children.
Martinez believes his eldest daughter developed lupus as a result of the childhood shots. His other four children who did not receive vaccines do not have the condition.
"It's the only thing we have to go on," he said. "I know it's not scientific and it's not enough data. It is something."
Martinez said vaccine policies are based on fear. He expressed questioned motives of the drug company, vaccine ingredients and the frequency of recommended shots.
"From the age of a few months old, we start vaccinating with strong medication, when the reality is there's a 1 or 2 percent chance that it will hurt your child," he said.
No vaccine is 100 percent safe or effective, because every individual's immune systems reacts differently. The issue of suing for vaccine injuries has has reached the Supreme Court.
However, vaccines are largely considered the greatest public health success in reducing infectious diseases.
Most kids end up getting vaccinated, even on a slightly delayed schedule, said Dr. Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician and CNNHealth's Living Well expert.
"Many parents who refuse or delay vaccines count on herd immunity from other families vaccinating their kids on time," she said.
Parents who choose not to vaccinate "are making decisions because of their concerns and want to do what's best for children," said Glanz, who researches the topic.
"We need to do better to address the parents, not alienate them. A lot of parents are confused and it's incumbent to develop effective ways to convey truthful information and establish trust with the parents."
Parents want to know the pros and cons of vaccines, and have control, Glanz said.
Despite the findings that vaccine compliance is falling in one segment of the population, the overall vaccination rate in the United States remains strong.
The CDC reported earlier this month that vaccinations for polio, measles, mumps and rubella, hepatitis b virus, chickenpox was near or above the target of 90 percent for children aged 19 to 35 months. Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center called the survey results, "very reassuring."
According to that National Immunization Survey conducted last year, less than 1 percent of young children did not get any vaccines. Unlike the National Committee for Quality Assurance report, this survey focused only on children between the age of 1 and 3, and did not differentiate insurance status.
Lacek said she does not criticize other parents who do not vaccinate their children.
"My husband and I made a choice from the information that we had," she said. "Every parent tries to make the best decision."
Matthew made a full recovery after being hospitalized for nearly a week and spending time in a coma in the intensive care unit.
He is now in second grade.
"I don't want any mom or dad to go through what we went through," Lacek said. "We were blessed to have a happy ending."
She talks about what happened to Matthew by working with a pediatric non-profit, Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases.
"I felt that him having Hib disease and surviving is giving us the ability to communicate, to tell people not to go through what we went through," Lacek said.
Matthew and his siblings have received all their vaccinations.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Some parents still reject vaccines, with deadly consequences for their children
From CNN:


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DOVER, Del. (AP) — State lawmakers are working to ensure that increased rail shipments of oil to Delaware come with adequate safety and response measures.
Members of the House Energy quizzed industry officials Wednesday on safety and inspections standards for tanker cars bringing oil shipments to the Delaware City Refinery and for the tracks that carry them.
Lawmakers also heard from state and local emergency response officials on their ability to respond to a tanker derailment or fire.
Crude oil shipments by rail have increased dramatically in the United States in recent years. PBF Energy brings crude oil by train from various sources, including tar sands oil from Canada and oil fields in North Dakota, to a new rail loop it built near the Delaware City refinery.
The National Transportation Safety Board noted recently that crude oil shipments by rail have increased by more than 400 percent since 2005.
But the use of rail tank cars to ship crude oil has come under increasing scrutiny following deadly derailments in North Dakota and Quebec. Federal regulators have particularly focused on the design of older tanker cars involved in those accidents.
Herman Seedorf, head of refining for PBF and former manager of the Delaware City refinery, said the company plans to use new tanker cars built to higher safety standards that have been voluntarily adopted by the rail industry and which exceed what the current law requires.
Seedorf said that, starting April 1, the refinery will not accept any shipments of lighter crude oil using the older-design tankers. The same standard will apply to shipments of heavy crude by the end of June, he said.
"We, as a company, have been way ahead of the curve," Seedorf said.
Jamie Turner, head of Delaware Emergency Management Agency, said he was confident in the ability of local and state officials in Delaware to respond in the unlikely event of a train derailment.
Representatives of CSX Railroad and Norfolk Southern, which carries tankers to the Delaware City refinery, said safety is a priority for them, and that rails and cars are subject to regular inspections.
Bryan Rhode, regional vice president of state government affairs for CSX and former secretary of public safety in Virginia, said development of domestic shale oil production represents a tremendous economic opportunity.
"Rail has a critical role in this opportunity, but with this role comes great responsibility," he said.


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Everyone you know has a Facebook page.
Some have personal and business pages. Whether you are a Facebook believer, addict or self-proclaimed Facebook avoider, there is no question that social media is here to stay.
Sharing on Facebook can be a positive way to connect with others…oversharing is almost always a recipe for disaster. So, regardless of how you might use Facebook for personal entertainment, there are some general guidelines for getting the most out of a business page.
Here are a few DOs and DON'Ts:
Do set up a professional looking page that reflects your business, company, or organization. This means use a logo that is properly sized, create a cover image that represents your company and fill out the About Us section as thoroughly as possible. Be sure to include your company address, contact info, phone, email, etc.
Do create a strategy for your social media efforts. Decide what you want the page to do for your business. You might want to create weekly themes and regular postings so readers can look forward to your daily feed.
Do post content that is relevant to the audience you want. If you want engagement (which you do), you need to provide information that people will find useful and interesting.
Don't focus on how many LIKES you have. It's about connecting with people that you can convert to customers rather than having a million "likes."
Don't bash your competition on your page. Be positive. Showcase your work occasionally not daily.
Don't "sell" constantly. Actually, if you have an engaged audience, you shouldn't have to "sell" at all. People want to do business with those whom they feel a connection. This is about building relationships.
Don't worry if all your posts don't get a lot of likes, views or comments. Facebook has a great insights section. Review the insights on a weekly and monthly basis. You can adjust content based on history. If videos get lots of engagement then use more of that type of content (for example).
Remember, success using social media and especially Facebook is a series of trial and error. Repeat what works, eliminate what doesn't. Have fun. Be positive. Share your knowledge. Make new friends.


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The Hub Rings in the New Year With "Hercules" and "My Little Pony" Marathons
via The Hub press release:
Holiday Schedule Includes Marathons of Action-Packed "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and Pop Culture Phenomenon "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic"
LOS ANGELES – The Hub TV Network, one of the fastest growing basic cable networks, celebrates the New Year's holiday with a special ten-episode marathon of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" that kicks off Monday, December 31 (8 p.m.-6 a.m. ET) with back-to-back favorite episodes of the internationally renowned fantasy-action series featuring the mythical hero Hercules (Kevin Sorbo, "Andromeda"). The series is distributed by NBC Universal Cable and New Media Distribution.
New Year's Day programming on the network will include a festival of family fare including a ten- episode block of the Hasbro Studios-produced "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic" Tuesday, January 1 (11 a.m.-4 p.m. ET) featuring the studious young unicorn Twilight Sparkle who lives in the village of Ponyville, where she and her five pony friends teach one another about the most powerful magic of all, the magic of friendship!
Over the two-day holiday, the network also offers up a feast of other family favorites during a New Year's Day "Hub Family Movie" marathon Tuesday, January 1 (4 p.m.-4 a.m. ET) featuring the network's premiere airings of beloved family feature films Open Season (4-6 p.m. ET; encore 10 p.m. -12 a.m.), Ice Age (6-8 p.m. ET; encore 12-2 a.m.), and The Nightmare Before Christmas (8-10 p.m. ET; encore 2-4 a.m.).
About The Hub TV Network
THE HUBis a multi-platform joint venture between Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) and Hasbro, Inc., (NASDAQ: HAS) with a goal of entertaining, enlightening, empowering and educating children and their families. The cable and satellite television network features original programming as well as content from Discovery's library of award-winning children's educational programming; from Hasbro's rich portfolio of entertainment and educational properties built during the past 90 years; and from leading third-party producers worldwide. The Hub lineup includes animated and live-action series, as well as specials, game shows, and family-favorite movies. The network extends its content through a robust and engaging online presence at www.hubworld.com. The Hub rebranded from Discovery Kids on October 10, 2010, and is available in more than 70 million U.S. households. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.
To find the channel in your area, please visit http://www.hubworld.com and check the channel locator at the top of the page.
Visit The Hub on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/hubtvnetwork


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15 Reasons the U.S. Retirement Crisis Is Even Worse Than You Think
We are supposed to look forward to our golden years, right? Do a little traveling, play with the grandkids, host dominoes nights. Yet, increasingly, this isn't what some Americans are experiencing. What's going on?
In American society, our expectations have risen over the decades. We expect to command enough money to live as well as during our working years. But as pensions go away and interest rates drop, reality is changing. So what has happened to our retirement plans — or lack of them?
A new study brings to light 15 frightening facts about how swiftly the U.S. retirement scenario is changing. Dwindling saving patterns seem to be sweeping away the image of the relaxing "golden years" and replacing them with a harsh reality.
In earlier years, no one envisioned working past 65. Now it's becoming quite common. And when prospects and savings don't work out, what remains are high hopes of finding work in later years, even if the hopes are unrealistic.
The new information begs the question, what lifestyle will America's elderly have in 20 or 30 years?
Quite simply, this list of facts indicates that workers are saving less, planning to work later in life and have concerns and misunderstandings about how much money they'll need to save before retiring, according to a 2012 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The results of the survey mimic what some insiders are noticing.
"I see a lot of people coming to the conclusion that retirement is not going to be an option," said Long Island-based attorney Leslie Tayne, who helps individuals with debt-related issues. "And that those who have gone into retirement are now finding it difficult to stay in retirement because their investments have decreased in value and the cost of living has gone up."
The survey was conducted in January through 20-minute, random-dialed telephone interviews with 1,262 individuals (mostly workers, with 25% retirees).
The results of the EBRI study show:
1. The percentage of workers who expect to retire after age 65 has increased to 37%. In 1991, only 11% expected to retire after 65.
2. One third of the working population interviewed expected to retire far past 65 — at age 70 or older — or never plan to retire.
3. Most workers, or 70%, expected to work in retirement. But planning to work into your golden years may not be in the cards for everyone. In reality, only 27% of the retirees surveyed said they actually worked.
4. Despite their best intentions, half of retirees interviewed who retired early did so not by choice but for negative reasons, such as health trouble or layoffs.
5. The survey also shows a large percentage of workers would not be prepared for a major financial upset because 30% have less than $1,000 in savings and investments.
6. Many workers report they have virtually no savings and investments.
7. Some 60% of workers report that the total value of their household's savings and investments, excluding the value of their primary home and any defined benefit plans, is less than $25,000.
8. Although financial planners generally recommend setting aside money for retirement starting in your 20s, only a third of retirees said they planned for retirement at least 20 years before they quit working.
9. Fewer than half of workers say they or their spouses have tried to calculate how much money they will need saved for a comfortable retirement. (Single workers are less likely to have tried to do a calculation.)
10. Most workers, or 67%, feel they are a little or a lot behind schedule on saving for retirement. The feeling of being a lot behind schedule is inversely tied to household income, assets, health and education.
11. Just 14% are very confident they will have enough money to live comfortably once they retire.
12. Sometimes expectations exceed reality. Although 56% of workers expect to receive benefits from a defined benefit plan in retirement, only 33% report that they and/or their spouse have such a benefit with a current or previous employer, according to the survey.
13. Few seem to realize that the cost of out-of-pocket health care can soar in retirement — some industry estimates put health care costs at about $260,000 or more. Yet one-third of workers surveyed believe they won't need to save more than $250,000 for their entire golden-year living expenses. This may be because of guesses or misunderstandings with calculations, as well as current feelings of financial stress. Worker confidence about having enough money to pay for medical expenses and long-term care expenses in retirement remains well below confidence levels regarding paying for basic expenses.
14. The percentage of retirees who report they are leaning more heavily on Social Security as a major source of income is higher than the percentage of current workers who expect to do so.
15. In the turbulent economy, retirement planning has been upset by other concerns, such as job uncertainty, making ends meet and making payments for mortgages, debts, health insurance and medical expenses.
Action to Take –> Workers who contribute to employer-sponsored retirement savings plans are more than twice as likely to have savings and investments of at least $50,000. Begin calculating how much money you will need to retire as young as possible to allow your investment to grow. Also, take advantage of employer matching programs. It is best to consider medical costs when retirement planning and to realize that many retirement calculators do not factor out-of-pocket medical expenses. [And when it comes to investing on your own, we highly recommend you own what we call Retirement Savings Stocks. For more details, go here.]
This article originally appread on InvestingAnswers.com:
15 Reasons America's Retirement Crisis Is Even Worse Than You Think


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7 Brilliant and/or Baffling Flowcharts
In the 2007 post Fun with Flowcharts, we took a look at flowcharts and how people use them to explain widely varying processes from playing the pan flute to a dog's inner thoughts. That was followed by 7 Geeky Flowcharts in 2008. Since then, I've found even more strange flowcharts to give us a giggle or two.
The Flowchart of Should You Make A Flowchart
Miles Grover at Thinkin' Lincoln created this flowchart on the decision to make a flowchart. Now stay with me here. Since Grover decided to make this chart, the answer is yes, make a flow chart. However, since he's already made the decision about making this one, your process may vary. Follow the link to see the entire chart.
Understanding Flowcharts
Of course, it's difficult to make a flowchart if you don't understand flowcharts. So Randall Munroe at XKCD explains flowcharts for you, with a handy flowchart. Are you following this? As the previous flowchart explained, "people love that meta-irony stuff." Continue reading for flowcharts that are actually about stuff.
Create Your Own Star Trek Story
The best flowcharts are the ones that help you actually do something you enjoy. Stephanie Fox at io9 took information that is obvious to fans of the original Star Trek TV series and put it into flowchart form to help anyone make their own Star Trek: TOS adventure. The scriptwriters for the 1966-68 series were obviously constrained by budget, and often relied on what worked in previous episodes to construct stories. In this small section of the chart, the available set determines what kind of alien world the Enterprise will encounter.
Solving Valentine's Day
Funny, but still a bit sad when you reach the end of this flowchart on how geeks deal with Valentines Day.
The Financial Crisis
The main function of a flowchart (or any chart, for that matter) is to make information easy to absorb. Understanding the current financial meltdown requires such vast amounts of information even economists have trouble. But if you break it down into smaller pieces, such as unemployment statistics, and put it into flowchart form, even I can understand it. Even if it doesn't make sense.
Selecting a Medical Specialty
Few decisions in life wouldn't be easier with a flowchart. Here's one for medical students on how to select your specialty. It's based on your goals and personality.
McCann Ericson advertising in Tel Aviv designed a series of flowcharts to advertise Gold Star Beer. This one contrasts how men and women deal with the effects of beer drinking. Believe me, the woman's process goes a lot further! See more of the series here and here.
See also: Fun with Flowcharts


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Well, thank you for coming tonight. You are a noble group to come tonight and find out that you should pay your taxes. I was afraid we'd empty the place with the subject, but we're glad you're here and ready, as always, to hear the Word of the Lord.
We've been trying to get a bit of an understanding on the themes of the believer's relationship to the government, for obvious reasons, because we're living in a time when our own government is very volatile. Governments in the world are even more volatile than our own situation. There are all kinds of voices shouting at us out there, all kinds of attitudes being propagated that people would like us to hold toward those who are in authority over us. This is a good time for us to do a reality check on what the Word of God expects of us, what God expects of us, as citizens in our own nation.
And so we've been looking at this a couple of times, and then we took a few weeks' break while I was gone, and now we're back to Romans 13 again. Let me read the opening seven verses to you of Romans 13. This is really the watershed, the benchmark passage on the believer's relation to the government. It says, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves, for rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior but for evil.
"Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same, for it is a minister of God" - that is, governmental authority - "to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid for it doesn't bear the sword for nothing, for a minister of God it is an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake, for because of this, you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them, tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."
Now, here are more unqualified statements such as the statements that we've already covered in the first part of this passage, that there is no authority, verse 1, except from God and those which exist are established by God. It is also an unqualified statement to say that every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, whoever and whatever they may be.
Part of this, then, comes down to the practical matter of paying taxes. Now, we would all agree that it's a sort of basic right of human behavior to complain about paying taxes. Whether you pay a little or a lot, you seem to think it's a privilege that comes with the paying of the taxes to complain about it. We have been burdened in our own nation with escalating taxes for a very long time. Our taxes are escalating at a very rapid rate and threaten to go up even more.
There are people who think (and they could well be right) that this thing is so out of control that it has reached the level of being ridiculous. And there are people who would be accurate in assuming that when we take money from the people who earn it and give money to people who don't work, we're not helping them, we're only making matters worse.
The matter of taxation is before us all the time. Every time you put gasoline in your car, you're very much aware of how much of that is tax. Every time you purchase something and they ring up the tax, every time you eat a meal out, you understand this. Tax bills come to your house and my house all the time. And for those who are dutiful and faithful to pay all the taxes that are imposed upon them, it's easy to understand why some of this seems burdensome to us and extremely distasteful.
We are very much aware of the fact - aren't we? - that we have different agendas as Christians than the national government has, and they're using our money to do things that we would not want them to do if we were given the choice. We are told that more crimes are committed in this country in the category of income tax than in any other category or perhaps all other categories. The statistics are varied in terms of their accuracy because we can't get an actual fix on it, but a great proportion - certainly more than a fourth and maybe a third - of all people cheat on their income taxes, and a survey done indicated about half the people in America thinks everybody cheats. So we know at least half cheat or they wouldn't think everybody cheated.
Understand the other day that the government is about to hirer another 5,100 IRS agents to find the cheaters and to recover the hundreds of billions of dollars that are defrauded from the government here in America every year. We face a very difficult situation in being commanded by the Word of God to pay these taxes and at the same time understanding that this is burdensome, this is over-taxation, and that the effect of this is not helpful to people who are allowed to be indifferent to work (and lazy and indolent) and still find support.
Social scientists without regard for the Bible have done studies on this, some of them you can find in the American Enterprise Institute, which indicate that this kind of thing is devastatingly destructive to the people who are the recipients. But if this is bad for us, it really wasn't any different in the New Testament time. The Roman government of Paul's day deified Caesar. We could then conclude that it was a blasphemous pagan government. The Roman government of Paul's time ran a welfare system - a welfare state - supported slavery, and used government money to sponsor pagan worship and pagan ritual.
There was no such thing as separation of church and state. There's only been one country in history that's ever done that, that's America. We set that in motion. Other countries have followed since then, but we were the first country in human history to separate religion from government. Everything else was some form of a religious state. Tax collectors in Jesus' day were essentially criminals who strong-armed extortion by charging people way more than was required by the Roman government, keeping all the proceeds.
It was so gross that even Zacchaeus, when he came to faith in Christ, repaid people four times what he had stolen from them in an effort to make some sensible reparations. So you don't want to assume that if you lived in Israel at this time or if you lived in Rome at this time (to whom this is written) or any other city in the Mediterranean area, you were going to somehow be in a better situation as to what the government did with the money they took. It wouldn't have been any better. Taxes were burdensome, inequitable, and anything but democratic.
So what is instructed here for them works for us, and while our taxes may be considered to be burdensome, they certainly aren't as bad as other cultures and other societies and other nations throughout history have been. We look at these two verses, verses 6 and 7, just from three perspectives: one, the principle, then the purpose, and then the particulars.
The principle is simple. In verse 6, "Because of this, you also pay taxes." Or we could even make it an imperative. "Because of this, you are to pay taxes." You are subject to the powers that be, as we read back in verse 1, we are subject to the governing authorities. They are ordained by God for this place and this time and this people in history and we are commanded to pay taxes. Phoros refers to a tax on individual people, the Greek word. We are commanded to pay tax. This is an unqualified command. No statement could be more unequivocal, it is a very simple statement. Pay tax to whom tax is due - verse 7 - custom to whom custom is due.
Now, this isn't introducing anything new - not at all. Taxation is very old. It goes way back into the book of Genesis. You find issues with regard to taxation all through the Old Testament. For example, in the case of Nehemiah chapter 5, verse 4, it says, "We have borrowed money for the king's tax and that on our lands and vineyards." In other words, there was a level of desperation on the part of the people in Nehemiah's day because they had to pay taxes to the king and they didn't have the money, so they literally borrowed against their own property and their own crops to pay the king's tax. That's burdensome, that's oppressive.
In Ezra chapter 4, verse 13, we read, "Be it known unto the king that if this city is built" - remember they went back to rebuild in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, rebuild the city of Jerusalem after the captivity was over. "If the city is built and the walls are set up again, they will not pay tax." Now, this was a criticism that was sent to the king - the king from whom they had been released. If you let this city - these are the people who tried to stop the Jews from rebuilding Jerusalem - if you let them build this city, they're going to stop paying those taxes to you. You won't get a tax. You won't get custom. And it's going to - it literally said in the letter, it will damage your revenue.
What this tells us is that there were taxes on the people - again, as we read in Nehemiah - that were from an alien empire, from an alien king, nothing to do, really, with them. Taxes could be so burdensome that they would be actually divisive First Kings 12:3 speaks of excessive taxes. "Speak unto Rehoboam saying, 'Your father made our yoke grievous; now, therefore, make the grievous service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us lighter, and we will serve you.'" They pled with Rehoboam to lighten the load of the taxes and he refused and the kingdom divided over excessive taxes.
There was even a time, according to 2 Kings 23:35, when Pharaoh - Pharaoh placed his own king in the land of Israel. His name was Eliakim and it was changed to Jehoiakim, and the man that Pharaoh put in for the benefit of Egypt, it says in that verse, 2 Kings 23:35, taxed the land to give money according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold and the people of the land and everyone according to his taxation and his evaluation. This, again, is oppressive. This is burdensome. This is alien.
The writers of the Scripture know all of this, they understand all of this. It was true in the ancient times. It was abusive. It was true in the time of the apostle Paul. It has been true at all points in time throughout human history. It is true in our own world today. And yet the command stands: Pay your taxes. The actual biblical teaching on the whole issue of taxation begins before the Mosaic law.
In Genesis, you have the establishing of taxation, and it's very interesting. It's in Genesis chapter 41 and following and it has to do with Egypt. You remember, back in that period of time, Pharaoh had a dream about seven thin cows - remember that? And seven fat cows and the thin cows devouring the fat cows and the thin ears of grain devouring the fat ears of grain. And this was an analogy to express the fact that seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine.
So how is Egypt going to deal with this? Joseph is there at the time. To deal with this, they developed the first biblical record of an income tax, and it was really designed by the Lord Himself, according to Genesis 41:34, and the tax was twenty percent, one-fifth was collected to support the nation. This became a law by the time you get into Genesis chapter 47. So here's the first institution by national government of the income tax, and interestingly enough, it is a fifth, which used to be the basic standard for the American income tax as well.
Since government is the institution of God, and it has the duty of protecting those who do good and punishing those who do evil, it is to be supported by the people. And the concept, then, of the income tax - at least first of all - appears in a pagan environment in the land of Egypt.
Now, getting past that, let's get into the era of Moses. Let's get in past the arrival of Moses to giving the law, and here we get another picture of taxation, and this would be in the theocratic kingdom, which God established in Israel, over which He was the ruler. In Leviticus chapter 27 and verses 30 to 33 - you can just jot that down, Leviticus 27:30 to 33 - there is the first tithe required. Tithe is a word that means a tenth - a tenth. This is the first taxation and it was one-tenth. That's just the first. We're going to show you some others, but that's where it begins, in the book of Leviticus.
Let me just read verse 30. "If a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it, for every tenth part of a herd. Whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. He's not to be concerned whether it's good or bad, et cetera." It goes on to talk about the responsibility that they have to pay the tithe. "These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai." There was the requirement of one-fifth and it could be redeemed by adding a fifth to that. This is the Lord's tithe. It is also called the Levites tithe since (according to Numbers 18) it was given to the Levites.
Now, the Levites were the basic government officers. They were the people who ran the government. They were the agents and rulers and judges and leaders of the nation. They were the civil rulers or leaders in government. The other eleven tribes then supported the tribe of Levi since they had no land and they served the people in religious and judicial and civil matters. They were the agents of theocracy.
All right - just hurrying - in Deuteronomy 12, there is added another tithe, another ten percent. Here was another tax, an annual tax. The one in Leviticus 27 was an annual tax, a tenth. And then the annual tax in Deuteronomy 12 very specifically was to provide food and all the necessary resources for the national festivals. In fact, it was kind of really the tax for the national pot luck. It was called the festival tithe. Whenever they came together, which they did for all their convocations and all their feasts and festivals, the people would bring a portion and that way, the whole nation would have plenty. This was for the enrichment of national life and for the enrichment of religious celebration.
In Deuteronomy 14, verse 28, there's a third tenth - a third tenth - the welfare tithe. This tenth was only paid every three years. Every third year, you paid this tenth. So breaking it down, you had a ten percent - I think I may have said a fifth - a ten percent, a ten percent, and then every year a three-and-a-third percent, if you will, taking the ten for three and breaking it down into three years, three and a third each.
So every year, essentially, the income tax of the theocratic kingdom was 23 and a third percent - 23 percent, not far from what Egypt established and not far from what used to be the basic standard here in America. These three tithes provided the resources for government salaries and provisions for the national life, the national religious life, celebration, and also took care of those who were in need.
Now, that's not all. According to Leviticus 19:9 and 10, you couldn't harvest the corners of your field. When the harvesting came, you had to leave the corners unharvested and that would be collected by the poor. Also, according to Exodus chapter 23, every seventh year, you had to let the land rest. And so, in a sense, that was a tax because it deprived you of growing something and earning income. And then according to Nehemiah 10 and Exodus 30, there was a coin tax that was to be paid at the temple. In Exodus, it's half a shekel. In Nehemiah, it's a third of a shekel because by Nehemiah's time, the people were much poorer, coming back from captivity.
So you have 23 and a third, plus leave the corners of the field, plus let the land rest every seventh year, plus pay the temple tax. This had nothing to do with giving. This had nothing to do with freewill giving. That was a completely different matter. And that's a very important distinguishment to make. There are all kinds of things in the Old Testament that talk about freewill giving, give whatever's in your heart, whatever you desire to give, bring out of your wealth, out of your riches, whatever you want to give the Lord. You have illustrations of that in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, 1 Chronicles, Proverbs, all those things.
But this is not that. This is the taxation of the theocratic kingdom, and in Malachi 3 - you hear people quote that in connection with Christian giving. Malachi 3:8 says, "Will a man rob God? Yet you're robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings. You're cursed with a curse, you're robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Bring your tithe." That's not talking about freewill giving, that's saying pay your taxes. The nation, of course, throughout most of its history was an apostate nation but didn't change the responsibility of the people to pay their taxes.
The Lord recognizes this. Now we'll move from that into the New Testament and some familiar places in the New Testament. First of all, Matthew chapter 17, and in Matthew 17, you will recall the incidents recorded. Verse 24, they came to Capernaum, and those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter. This is Jesus and His apostles arriving. And they said, "Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax? He said, 'Yes. Yes, He pays.'
"And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, 'What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs'" - or poll tax - "'from their sons or from strangers?' When Peter said, 'From strangers,' Jesus said to him, 'Then the sons are exempt.'" There was every reason to think that Jesus was exempt. However: "So that we do not offend them, go to the sea, throw in a hook, take the first fish that comes up. When you open its mouth you'll find a shekel. Take that, give it to them for you and me."
The background here is really important. Jesus had told the disciples that He would die violently at the hands of the Jewish authorities in chapter 16. It was already announced. They knew what was coming. They knew about His death.
Back up to verse 22 in Matthew 17. The Son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, they're going to kill Him. They were the same authorities that were going to kill Jesus and pay off Judas. They were asking for money for the temple tax. The money given at the temple went into the hands of the people that ran the temple, and the people that ran the temple were the people, essentially, that led the attack on Jesus. They were the ones who corrupted that temple and the reason that He went in there and threw them out during Passion Week.
So the money that they collected from Jesus and Peter that day would be money to go fund the corrupt religion of the temple. Jesus had also told them that worship at Jerusalem's temple was ending - it was ending. The temple, for all intents and purposes, was history. It was going to come crashing down. And Jesus said early in His ministry that the time is coming when you're not going to worship in Jerusalem or at Gerizim as the Samaritans did but you're going to be worshiping the way God wants you to worship, in spirit and in truth.
And yet here's a Jewish tax, not a Roman tax. The drachma that he's talking about is a Jewish tax. It's related to the temple, which was very expensive to operate - part of the reason for the extortion in selling the animals for exorbitant prices and disqualifying the animals that people brought. Part of the reason for overcharging them for the coin exchange was to make up the money that filled their pocket as the high priest and the leaders of that place and all the people who are part of that system.
Every male Jew had to pay a half shekel, two Greek drachma, called the double drachma tax, equal to about two days' wages. The tax could be absolutely obligatory to every Jew, no matter what was done with the money. The coin required was not in use, so it was customary for two men to go together to pay one because the coin that made up the two was in circulation, a didrachma or sometimes called a stater. This was to be done before the Passover, and when they said to Peter, "Does your master pay this tax?" he said yes, "Yes, He pays it."
He should be free. It is the house of God and He is the Son of God. God doesn't tax His Son, that's the point, any more than a father taxes his son. So you would expect the man to tax a stranger but not to tax his son. You would expect God to tax a stranger but not to tax His Son. But to show submission and response and to set an example for all of us, Jesus said pay the tax. Now, admittedly, He had a novel way to get His tax money that we don't have.
The Lord, then, is putting a tax - listen to this - into an apostate system, a den of thieves. He called it that, cave of robbers. But He supports government because government is an institution of God.
Turn to Matthew 22 - Matthew 22 and verse 15. The Pharisees come together. We're back in Passion Week where we've been in Mark here. They're trying everything they can to bring Jesus into a trap and have Him executed. So they're plotting together, according to verse 15, to trap Him in what He said. They sent their disciples to them, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth." That's just flattery. "And you defer to no one, for you're not partial to any."
That was all true but it was flattery. Why the Herodians? Why did the Pharisees get together with the Herodians? The Pharisees hated the Herodians, the Herodians hated the Pharisees. The Pharisees were legalists, they were into the law of God. The Herodians were basically pro-Herod Jews, and that wasn't good because Herod wasn't even a Jew, he was an Idumaean and he was simply a foil for Rome. He had whatever petty power he had because he had accommodated the Romans and the Romans had allowed him to exercise his modest rule, completely based on Roman will.
The Herodians, then, were pro-Herod. They were a political party who wanted to curry favor with the Romans. They were despised by the Jews because the Jews - the pure Jews, the Pharisees - hated the Romans and thus they hated Herod as well. The anti-Roman Pharisees, however, needed the Herodians, though they hated them. They needed them because they wanted to confront Jesus. And the Herodians would see Jesus, when they got done with this confrontation, as an insurrectionist against Rome if they played this thing right. Then the Herodians would go back and report to the Roman authorities, who would then have to deal with Jesus. That's the idea.
So the Pharisees, together with Herodians, come to Jesus in verse 16, "Teacher, we know you're truthful," and they flatter Him with all of that. Verse 17, "Tell us then, what do you think? Is it lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar or not?" They not only paid a temple tax, they had to pay all these taxes, including a poll tax to the Romans. "Is it lawful to pay this personal head money, census money?" This is essentially a tax for just being there.
The Romans had all kinds of taxes imposed upon the Jews. They had a land tax, they had a grain tax, they had an oil tax, they had a wine tax. It could be paid in substance or it could be paid in money. They had a tax on the transporting of all goods at harbors, piers, gates, entrances to cities. They had an income tax, they had a one-percent wage tax, and they had a one-denarius poll tax, which is this one. The Jews hated the Roman taxation.
In fact, Judas of Galilee in 6 A.D. led a rebellion against this, saying God was their only ruler and told the Jews not to pay the tax. However, he died and his followers scattered. But the sentiment was still alive. Josephus says it was rekindled in 66 A.D., and it was the resistance to paying taxes that led to the revolt that the Romans crushed in 70 A.D. So when we talk about the destruction in 70 A.D., we're talking about crushing a tax revolt in part.
These people who hated Rome and who didn't want to pay the taxes sort of eventually became associated with a group called the zealots, and the zealots were a group of Jews who went around stabbing Romans. They were the terrorists. Well, Jesus knows their hypocrisy. He perceived their malice, verse 18, their evil intent and said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?" That's pretty direct. "Show me a sign, show me the coin used for the poll tax." They brought Him a denarius. They probably couldn't get it out fast enough.
He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's." And hearing this, they were amazed and leaving Him, they went away. Essentially said, "Pay your tax - pay the tax," apodidōmi, same verb is in Romans 13, pay the tax, pay. It's a debt. It's an obligation. You don't owe the government divine favor, that's for God, but you do owe the government tax.
Now, understanding that from the Old Testament and from the life of our Lord, let's go back to Romans chapter 13, and we shouldn't be surprised when we hear Paul say what he says. He's taking his cues from his own Lord. Paying tax is an act of submission to the governing authorities that is required in verse 1. And as we saw, generally speaking, doesn't matter what the nature of the government is, it certainly wouldn't have been a democracy in ancient times. It doesn't matter what form of monarchy or what form of empire it might have been.
The government did exist to protect good people and to punish evil people. And it needed to be supported as such because without that kind of control, all hell would break loose, anarchy and death would reign. We get a little glimpse of that these days - don't we? - in the Middle East. So the principle is clear: Pay your tax.
Now, behind this is the purpose or the reason. Let's go back to verse 6 again. "Because of this" - because of this - because of what? Go back to the purpose of government, verse 4. "It is a minister of God to you for good, and if you do what is evil, you should be afraid because it doesn't bear the sword for nothing. It is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath but for conscience' sake." So because of this - that is, because of the role that government plays in restraining evil - pay your tax.
One can make an argument philosophically here that government is to be minimalist, that its primary responsibility is to protect good people from evil people. And you would be absolutely right. But you can also see from the Old Testament pattern that there was a tax given to help the poor and the corners of the field, et cetera, et cetera. There are elements within the tax purpose to help those who cannot help themselves, not those who will not.
We have to keep in mind that when we talk about the government, we're talking about an instrument that God has ordained for the well-being of man. You might not like Hosni Mubarak, but if you just obey the laws of Egypt, you'll be fine. If you riot in the streets, you're liable to be dead because government exists to maintain order. This takes us back to something that is really hard for us sometimes to understand, but government's agents are ministers of God. They're not gospel ministers. They're not spiritual leaders. They provide, however, a divine service. Government is by divine design. Government is by divine decree.
Resistance is resistance to God, and rulers have been placed there as God's servants. So it is because of this, then, that we pay our taxes. This is the purpose for the principle. Tax allows the government to equip itself for the protection of its people from evildoers. That would include police and that would include - because there can be internal evil, and that would include an army because there can be external evil. A minimalist form of government is certainly advocated here in which the government provides protection. This would be true of any government.
Years later, after the New Testament when Christians were being persecuted by governments, the Christians who were being persecuted didn't change their view. Justin Martyr, second century, in his Apology wrote this: "Everywhere we, more readily than all men, endeavor to pay to those appointed by you both the taxes, ordinary and extraordinary, as we have been taught by Jesus. We worship only God, but in other things we will gladly serve you, acknowledging you as kings and rulers of men, and praying that with your kingly power you may be bound to use good judgment.
Even when believers were being persecuted, they were praying for the wisdom of their leaders and paying their taxes. Tertullian wrote: Without ceasing - an early church father, Without ceasing for all our emperors we offer prayer, we pray for life prolonged, for security to the Empire, for protection for the Imperial House, the family of the emperor, for brave armies, a faithful senate, a virtuous people. We pray for the world at rest, whatever as man or Caesar, an emperor could wish. The emperor is called by the Lord to his office. That is the noble Christian perspective.
Until the end of the first century, a leader in the Roman church, remembering Nero's persecution, prayed in a way so as to reveal the attitude of Christians at that time. That has continued to be available, that prayer. And it's the same exact kind of prayer. The persecution breaks out and this noble Christian pours out his heart on behalf of his ruler. They are God's ministers.
And furthermore, please notice - back to verse 6 - they are devoting themselves to this very thing. These rulers are the ministers of God. They are the servants of God. And they are literally continually devoting themselves to this. That's what the verb is saying. Their service of protection is constant. That's what they do.
The Old Testament prophets, I think, give us a little help here as we kind of wrap some of this up. The Old Testament prophets give us some insight into how the rulers are to rule, what God requires of them. If they're going to be ministers of God, what does God ask of a ruler? This in itself would be a great study, and you can find information on this in many of the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk all make reference to nations around Israel and to what God requires of those nations.
But let me just kind of sum it up for you. If we pull together those prophets and drew out - here would be their responsibilities. One, to know they serve a divine purpose - to know they serve a divine purpose. Nebuchadnezzar came to the realization of that, didn't he? That God is the ultimate ruler and that He is the one who has ultimate authority and He calls the shots.
Rulers need to understand that they serve the divine purpose. That's Romans. They are ordained of God. Doesn't mean they're godly. They may be there, they may be as wicked as wicked can be, like Gaddafi, like Hussein. They may be as wicked as wicked could be but they're there - they're there for a divine purpose of order in a society. They will give an account to God for their own personal immorality and sin. They will also give an account to God for how they handled that responsibility.
If you read Isaiah 13, Isaiah 14, you see a second thing that is required of rulers, they are to be humble, serious, diligent - listen to this - truthful, and just. It would be an interesting thing in our nation if everybody who had authority would just tell the truth - just tell the truth - just speak the truth.
Daniel rebuked Nebuchadnezzar for his pride and then he rebuked Nebuchadnezzar for oppressing the poor - all in Daniel 4. Then he rebuked him for suppressing the truth. There's a side of this in which rulers need to wake up to their responsibility. Daniel pronounced judgment on Belshazzar for laziness, stupidity, sacrilege, drunkenness, dereliction of duty, pride, and failure to glorify God - Daniel 5. Daniel wasn't done with him, he went on to Darius and denounced and rebuked him as well.
So submission - listen - doesn't mean silence against the sins of rulers. Okay? Submission, pay your taxes, doesn't mean silence against the sins of rulers.
Thirdly, when you put together what the prophets have said about what rulers should do, they should maintain order by just and firm law enforcement. They should maintain order by just and firm law enforcement.
I wish I had time to dig into all of that. I don't at this point in time. You can check the archives of our studies in the past on Romans 13 and get more detail on this. But Jeremiah chapter 34 lays out how important it is to have just and firm and swift judgment. Failure to enforce the law is a crime among rulers - a crime among rulers. That would go for judges, too. I saw on the news the other night that a man was convicted for the murder of his 49th victim. Murdered 49 people and the judge determined to give him life instead of the death penalty. Rulers need to be told that they are accountable to God for a just and firm enforcement of the law.
Fourthly, rulers are warned not to seek their own welfare - not to seek their own welfare. Again, Jeremiah addresses this, and as I said, I'm not going to be able to dig into all of these chapters, but if you look at Jeremiah 22, it is in that chapter that Jeremiah speaks to this issue, that no ruler is to do what - well, let's just take what Mubarak has done. His personal wealth is 70 billion dollars, so he has managed to stuff his own coffers as a ruler.
In Jeremiah 22:13, I'll just read this - a little of this. "Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper room without justice, who uses his neighbor's services without pay and doesn't give him his wages, who says, 'I'll build myself a roomy house with spacious upper rooms and cut out its windows.'" In other words, he's building himself palaces, and that's essentially what Mubarak has done all over the place. "Woe to the ruler who does that." In fact, in that same section, it says he will be buried with a donkey's burial.
Number five warning to rulers, they must sympathize with the needy - they must sympathize with the needy. Isaiah 10, Amos 2. There must be compassion in the heart of a ruler, compassion in the heart of a leader. Following that, number six, we could say they must treat others with kindness. That heart of compassion must demonstrate itself in basic decency. That's the message of Amos 1 and Amos 2.
And this one, I do want to emphasize. I already hinted at it because it is so absolutely important. Rulers are required to speak the truth - the truth. In fact, they should be required to speak the truth as God has revealed the truth. "For three transgressions of Judah" - Amos 2 - "and for four, I will not revoke its punishment because they rejected the law of the Lord, they have not kept His statutes, their lies also have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked. I will send fire on Judah and consume the citadels of Jerusalem." From the leaders on down, the country was - the nation was filled with liars.
Last one would be maybe number eight, they must enforce public morality - they must enforce public morality. You could just take Isaiah, you could start in chapter 13 and just keep going and see the instruction given there that is essential to the ruler to maintain morality, public morality. "The Word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.'" What a horrendous, horrendous failure, to allow a city to be wicked so that the stench of its wickedness rises to the nostrils of God.
I will tell you this: This nation is going to have to give an account, and its leaders are going to have to give an account to God for the way this nation has tolerated wickedness, corruption, immorality, and talked about it as an alternate lifestyle.
So there is much in the Scripture, and I've just hinted at these things, to lay out the responsibility that is given to rulers. And on the one hand, we pay the tax. We submit to the government. That doesn't mean we're silent. We speak the truth of God to those who are our rulers.
Robert Lawrence Otley in 1898 gave some lectures and said this: "The Old Testament may be studied as an instructor in social righteousness. It exhibits the moral government of God as attested in His dealings with nations rather than with individuals. And it was their consciousness of the action and the presence of God in history that made the prophets preachers to the world at large. There is indeed significance in the fact that in spite of their ardent zeal for social reform, they did not, as a rule, take part in political life or demand political reforms. They desired not better institutions but better men," end quote.
People sometimes criticize me - well, not sometimes, a lot of the time. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a big stir when I was going to go speak at Liberty University because I don't get involved in political action. But this gentleman writing in 1898 is exactly right. I don't seek better institutions, I seek better men, and better men are the product of the gospel. But men who are evil in leadership need to be confronted about their evil. You pay your tax, you support the government, that doesn't - that doesn't equal silence. We call the rulers to be what rulers must be.
Some specifics, then - we call them particulars - in verse 7. "Render to all what is due them." This, again, is this unqualified blanket statement - render, apodidōmi give back something owed. It's a debt. You owe this, it's a debt. "Render to all what is due," opheilē, what is an obligation, a moral obligation. Verse 8 even adds, "Owe nothing to anyone." Pay your debts, even this kind of debt. Taxes are debts. Tax to whom tax is due. Custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. These are the particulars.
Tax - again, these specifics that we've been talking about, whether it's an assessment on land, whether it's an assessment on persons as a poll tax was, whatever it is, on income, wages, crops - pay it. Custom to whom custom due, telos. That is usually associated with distribution of goods. This would be a sales tax or a business tax or an import tax or an export tax. Fear to whom fear is due, phobos; that is, you must regard everyone who is in a position of authority.
You are to have a healthy fear of rulers. This is really respect - respect your rulers. This is what Peter said in 1 Peter 2, we went through that last time, didn't we? You honor the king and all who are in authority over you. Give honor to whom honor is due, whatever that might be. Honor sometimes can refer to money, such as when the faithful servant of the Word is worthy of double honor.
Well, I think you've got it now, right? It's all here. We are called to respect and remunerate our government, our leaders, but not to ignore their faults, as the prophets testify. We submit, we pay taxes, but we speak the truth about their sins, their injustices, their inequities, their immorality, and their lies. And they will be accountable to God, as will all people.
Why do we do this? Because we want, as Peter said, to silence the criticisms. We want to live, as Paul said, quiet and peaceable lives because God will have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. It's a gospel witness - it's a gospel witness. You can't get too caught up in the world because 1 Corinthians 7:31 says, "The fashion of this world is passing away." We're not caught up in that. That's why we work for better men through the gospel rather than better institutions.
Well, I had some more I was going to say but that's enough. You get the message.
Father, we thank you for again a wonderful day and just some time tonight to enjoy worshiping with one another and hear these wonderful testimonies that we heard. Thank you for the work you're doing in many lives. Thank you for the 150 people who came into the church this morning and were welcomed. We're just so thankful, we're so blessed you have continued to draw people to us.
Lord, we thank you for the time we've had tonight to be together. We pray now that our fellowship would be sweet even now as we part, and we give you the praise for all that you've accomplished in your Son's name. Amen.
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